Monday, July 14, 2014

This blog post is about my new cutting table. I'm going to be giving information about how we made it so that you can make a similar table for your quilting/sewing room.

Pete and I took a trip over to Lowe's hardware here in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma where we live. We picked up a few items. One of them being three-quarter inch oak plywood to make a nice strong surface. We were going to have them cut 2 feet off of the end of it at Lowe's but their saw was broken. Pete said he could do the cutting. So we brought it home in the truck. Measured off 2 feet off the back, scooted it part of the way out of the truck and he cut it down to 6 feet.

Then it was time to sand the edges and round the corners with the Sander.

I used a belt sander first and then moved on to using a finishing sander.

The top and bottom of the plywood did not need any sanding because it was already smooth.

Then it was time to move the 6' x 4' piece of plywood inside. This is not your normal sheet of plywood as oak is very heavy.

I also got two closet organizers for around $40 apiece at Lowe's to make the legs of my table. Here is a link to this product.

My good friend Tricia Wilkinson dropped a quilt off for me to do the long arm quilting on at just the right time. I asked her to come help me lift the heavy plywood sheet on top of the legs.

Tricia has a quilting business called Jersey-Magic where she makes T-shirt quilts for people. I do the long arm quilting for her. "LIKE" her business page on Facebook at this link, https://www.facebook.com/jerseymagicquilts

If you are in need of having a memory quilt made from your T-shirts, Tricia will be able to help you out. She also sells many other sewing and quilted items in her Etsy store here at this link, https://www.etsy.com/shop/JerseyMagic

After remeasuring the table top we are ready to start bolting it down.

We use some L-shaped brackets and screws to mount the legs on to the plywood.

It took about 32 screws to get the job done.

I did a lot of looking up during this time and I was so glad that Tricia was there to hold the brackets while I put the screws in.

This is what the brackets look like from underneath.

Now it's time to start making the cover for the table. For my first layer I put down warm and natural 100% cotton batting.

Now it is time to do some stapling. We had a normal staple gun but decided to buy this electric powered one for $30 at Lowes, it's a lot easier to use. I had to read the instructions to figure out how.

Then as Trica held the fabric I began stapling.

After stapling we cut off the excess batting.

Tricia was a great help to me for this project. I'm so glad she dropped that quilt off. :-)

I decided to add electricity to my table for my iron.

After mounting a power strip we put in some cord holders.

Here is the finished table.

It's height is about 37 inches high. Just perfect for me.

I'm able to sit at it with my stool which is very nice.

I can use the whole surface as an ironing board.

It has a great cubbyhole to store the iron in when I want to have the whole surface for rolling out batting or planning a large project.

Here's a photo of the other side of the table.

It has lots of room underneath to store sewing machines and other quilt related items.

It is great having such a big surface to use my cordless iron on.

And a wonderful place to do some cutting.

Now you can use some of my ideas or come up with your own to make a perfect cutting table just for you. It doesn't have to be exactly like mine it can be 8' x 4' or whatever will fit in your room. There are different heights of cabinets or dressers you can use. And of course different colors of canvas to make your table the right, "fit" for you. I'm off to put my new table to use! Fabric here I come!

Thursday, June 12, 2014

This is a start to finish quilt that I entered into the Green Country Quilt Guild Tulsa quilt show.

I was so excited when I found out Friday morning that my quilt had received a second place ribbon.

In this photo above is me standing next to my show quilt. It is called "Pathways".

In this photo you can see the detail of the Long arm quilting. This one was a lot of fun to work on as I just let my imagination and needle run wild.

I had to share my ribbon on the Saturday night after the quilt show with my Nolting long arm quilting machine, "Artie". I call him "Artie" because I do my artistic thread art and long arm quilting with him. Without "Artie" this kind of quilting would not be possible for me to do. Long arm quilting machines are wonderful.

Here is a photo of the back of the quilt, I used a really fun colorful fabric on this one.

If you are in need of any of my long arm quilting service, I would love to be able to help you out. Please check out the custom freehand long arm quilting page on this blog/website for more information

Sunday, April 27, 2014

In this blog post I am going to be showing you the step-by-step process of what I do, when I restore a sewing machine.

This is a very filthy Singer 301 sewing machine. When I purchased it, I did not look at what it looks like now, I saw what it could become.

I saw there was potential in this sewing machine. Even though it had some nasty residue of tape across the back of it. And dirt and grime in every single crevice inside and outside of this filthy little guy.

The inside was filled with grime and 60 years of old oil and grease.

So I began the process of stripping it down.

Taking apart every part that covered the inside in order to really do a deep cleaning.

After taking off the bottom cover, I saw there was quite a mess of old grease inside.

I disconnected and removed the motor so I could clean that up on its own.

Even the light socket was unscrewed so I could do a deep cleaning behind it.

Next I moved onto disconnecting part of the hook system on it. This machine and the Singer 221 and 222 featherweight have a very small screw as part of their hook mechanism that you do not want to lose.

I placed the screw along with the hook inside a bag and sealed it.

I next moved on to replacing the cord with a brand-new one on the control foot. I cleaned and checked out the controller inside and out to make sure everything was working like new.

Then I moved on to cleaning the inside of the machine from the top. A lot of old grease had to come out of these gears.

It's a nasty job but I do it all the time.

Then I proceeded to blow out the dust and dirt from the machine.

After doing this I cleaned the whole inside of the machine with WD-40. WD-40 is great for getting things loosened up and for deep cleaning the inside of these old all metal machines. But you do not want to leave it in the machine. I always blow it out and make sure it's dry.

This area was filled with grease and gunk but I got It cleaned.

Next I moved on to cleaning the adhesive residue off the machine. After cleaning the outside of the machines several times with WD-40. I got out some wonderful adhesive remover..... Peanut butter!

The first thing you do with the peanut butter is get a good spoonful of it and put the spoon in your mouth. This will keep you from wanting to lick your sewing machine later.

Then you get another spoonful of peanut butter. Ann and I love Jif creamy.

And put some on your fingers or a paper towel and apply it to your sewing machine.

In all the areas that have adhesive.

Then after waiting about an hour you go back to your wonderful smelling sewing machine and you wipe the peanut butter off with a paper towel taking a lot of the adhesive with it. The rest of it comes off with a fingernail.

Now it's time for cleaning the extra parts and reassembling the sewing machine. This is the gear and hand wheel of the 301 and I go through and clean in between every slot on the gear and clean the rest of the hand wheel up. This one was filthy.

Then I cleaned the front fold down plate.

Now it's time to recondition the Tension assembly. After all these years these can become quite filthy and grooves can form from thread. These weren't too bad but I still like to do this when reconditioning a sewing machine.

I take the tension discs and I flip them over on their faces and rotate them around in a circular motion on the 150 grit sandpaper.

This smoothes them out again like new and the thread will pass easily.

Then I cleaned the rest of the tension assembly every single little part. After cleaning a lot of machines I have learned how these go back together. Although they can be quite different from machine to machine.

Then after reassembling the clean and sanded tension assembly I reinstall it on the machine.

I then cleaned the top lid of the machine including all the oil portholes and screw holes. I like to take a paper towel and get down into the tightest spots.

Then after putting a new bulb in it's time for the light assembly to be cleaned and put back together

This machine was missing a spool pin these normally come with a metal spring type of pin but one of those was not available so I put a plastic one in that is used on the Slant-o-matic singer sewing machines after the 301.

Then it's time to clean all the rust and gunk off of the chrome pieces. For this I use turtle wax chrome polisher.

Now it's time to apply grease to the gears. I put the grease on the gear with my finger on the gear and move the grease around evenly as I rotate the gears.

The bottom is all cleaned up and oiled and ready to go.

Now it is time to oil the sides and top of the machine.

Now the hand wheel and gear are ready to go back in and be lined up with the motor.

Then grease is applied evenly.

After reassembly it is time to make some adjustments and sew that perfect 301 stitch. This machine is fast and sews wonderfully.

My last stage of cleaning the machine is to apply a good coating of baby oil and rub it in with a paper towel.

These last photos are of the finished and cleaned machine.

It looks so much better now and runs like new.

Look at all that shine and reflection.

I love the beauty of a 301 that has been reconditioned.

It's like a mirror reflecting the overhang of the roof above it.

Such a lovely machine.

A nice shiny black.

If you are in need of Ann's long arm quilting service we would love to be able to help you. Please check out the, Custom freehand long arm quilting page on this blog/website,

About Me

I am a Long Arm machine quilter. I love doing quilting for other people. I take your quilt top, backing fabric and batting and Quilt it on my Nolting long arm quilting machine's. I can do a quilt up to 122" wide on my machine.